From Petition to Parliament: Jesy Nelson’s SMA Screening Campaign Timeline
How a public petition moved through the UK Parliament process and helped build momentum for a national SMA screening evaluation.
The petition
A petition published in February 2026 called on the UK government to review the evidence and fund the addition of SMA to the newborn blood spot screening pathway. Jesy Nelson promoted the petition after making her daughters’ diagnosis public.
The petition passed 100,000 signatures, the level at which petitions are considered for debate in Parliament. It later recorded more than 149,000 signatures.
The parliamentary debate
MPs debated the petition on 22 June 2026. The discussion covered the evidence for pre-symptomatic treatment, the experiences of affected families and the work already carried out by charities, clinicians and researchers.
Jesy’s campaign was mentioned in Parliament, but the debate also made clear that families and specialist organisations had been working on screening for years.
The July announcement
On 16 July, the government announced a national evaluation programme across England. The planned October start meant the campaign moved from a request for review into a structured implementation and evidence-gathering phase.
The timeline shows how public testimony, formal petitioning, parliamentary scrutiny and clinical research can meet. It also explains why the result should be described precisely as an evaluation programme rather than a settled permanent UK-wide policy.